The present invention is directed to a drum beater assembly and, more particularly, to a foot pedal actuated drum beater assembly adapted to provide multiple strikes to an adjacent drum head through application of pressure in a single direction to a beater assembly foot pedal.
A number of drum beater assemblies directed to producing multiple drum strikes during a single up-down actuation cycle of a drum beater foot pedal are described in the prior art.
Bills U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,853 discloses a double acting drum beater device having a beater adapted to strike an adjacent drum head once for each downward movement of a foot operated pedal, and then a second time during the subsequent upward movement of the pedal.
Laverents, U.S. Pat. No. 2,484,302 discloses a rockable foot pedal adapted for alternate heel and toe action to oscillate a rotating shaft in different directions. The rotating shaft has two beaters attached thereto, one adapted to strike a drum in response to toe pressure, the other adapted to strike the drum in response to heel pressure.
Clayton, U.S. Pat. No. 2,658,421 discloses a base drum construction including a bass drum, a base, a foot pedal pivotally mounted on the base, a horizontally disposed rocker shaft mounted for oscillation on the base and linked to the foot pedal enabling rotation in one direction in response to downward movement of the foot pedal and being biased in an opposite direction by a coil spring which also returns the foot pedal to an up position when pressure from a drummer's foot is released. A pair of upwardly extending beaters and a pair of downwardly extending beaters are attached to the oscillating shaft in an arrangement such that both upwardly positioned beaters strike the drum head simultaneously when the foot pedal is depressed and, when the pedal is released, both downwardly positioned beaters strike the drum on the afterbeat.
Such prior art devices are generally adapted to providing a drum strike on the afterbeat, i.e., between primary beats, which is accomplished by counter rotation of a beater shaft during the upward movement of the toe portion of a drummer's foot pedal. Such devices are not adapted for readily providing a flam effect, i.e., a pair of drum strikes in quick succession where the first drum strike acts as a grace note to the second drum strike, or for producing a drum pop, i.e., a pair of drum strikes following one another in such close succession that only a single sharp resonant note is heard by the listener. The reason that such prior art devices are not capable of readily producing flams or pops is that the drummer's foot must change direction in order to produce the multiple drum strike with such prior art devices, i.e., the first drum strike is produced by downward toe movement and the second drum strike is produced by upward toe movement or downward heel movement depending on the type of drum pedal assembly. Such a rapid change in foot pedal direction is impossible or nearly impossible physically due to the rapid shift in momentum of the drum beaters and pedal assembly and the drummer's foot which would be required for producing high speed multiple strike effects, such as flams and pops.